Platycladus orientalis Oriental arborvitae

Winter quarter 2017 starts with a drizzly day. Stately Oriental arborvitae flank the view from the front steps of the Quad across the Oval to the Canary Island date palms of Palm Drive. Sairus Patel, 7 Jan 2017

Immature seed cones of Oriental arborvitae at the front entrance to the Quad. Sairus Patel, 19 Jul 2017

As with American arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis), many varieties are cultivated ranging from extreme dwarf forms 2 to 3 feet tall to very fancy shapes and colors. The flat leaf sprays are disposed in vertical planes. When ripening, the cones may exhibit a luminous blue bloom that attracts attention; when crushed, they have a pleasant fragrance.

Specimens were planted in the 1890s in the Arboretum (and recorded then under no less than three names: Thuja tartarica, Thuja nepalensis, and Biota orientalis) and then abundantly around campus. Many old neglected specimens can be seen strewn around the Arboretum, for example between Museum Way and Campus Drive, or behind the Mausoleum. These are mostly stunted, presumably because of the lack of summer water, but they clearly possess ability to survive. One venerable specimen is at the Bakewell Building, 355 Galvez Street, at the north end. Another grows to the right of the front steps of Phi Sig, 1018 Campus Drive. Six iconic specimens flank three sets of steps leading up to the Main Quad from Jane Stanford Way. Five of them have golden highlights on their foliage; the sixth is different.

Mature seed cones of Oriental arborvitae, Galvez Street. The scales have spread wide at this stage; note the hook-like structures just below the tip of each scale. Sairus Patel, 7 Mar 2020

From: Howard E. McMinn & Evelyn Maino, An Illustrated Manual of Pacific Coast Trees

Illustrations: cone comparisons of Thuja species.

Name derivation: Greek platys, broad, klados, branch, referring to flat leaf sprays; Thuja – Greek name thuia for a type of juniper; orientalis – eastern.